On the heels of a successful 2009 race meet at Saratoga Race Course, The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will expand the 2010 season by four days, a revision that will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Next year’s Saratoga meet will begin on Friday, July 23 and consist of 40 racing days. It will feature a Wednesday through Monday live racing schedule that will go through Labor Day, Monday, September 6. Each day of the meet will include a stake, and pending approval from the NYRA Board of Directors, the Grade 1, Coaching Club America Oaks, traditionally run at Belmont Park, will shift to the first weekend at Saratoga.

The 2009 Saratoga meet was a tremendous success on a number of fronts. While Equibase, the racing industry’s official statistics-gathering organization, reported a 12.5 percent decline in wagering nationwide in August, the Saratoga season concluded down only 1.7 percent in all-sources handle, with a final number of $513,837,237. In addition, attendance and on-track handle were down just 2.1 and 2.2 percent, respectively.

“Going into this year’s Saratoga meet, we predicted that wagering would decline approximately five percent from last year. We greatly exceeded those expectations,” said NYRA President & CEO Charles Hayward. “The expansion to four racing days was a measured decision that reflects the overwhelming demand for racing that we have from horsemen in Saratoga.”

In addition to the encouraging handle and attendance figures from the 2009 Saratoga meet, horsemen entered a record number 3,500 stall applications for 1,800 stalls. As expected, average betting interests per race for the meet increased 3.1 percent (8.38 vs. 8.13) and total betting interests increased 4.8 percent (3,058 vs. 2,919) from 2008.

“At a time when many tracks in the country had to cut back on racing days, we not only continued to run six days a week at Saratoga, but did so with more horses entered per race as compared to last year,” Hayward said. “This reflects the high demand for quality racing at Saratoga and is a very positive indicator for expanding the 2010 meet.”